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Karissa Bell

@karissabe.bsky.social
5.5K followers 796 following 507 posts

Senior reporter 🗒️ for Engadget, covering social media. Say👋 at karissa.bell@engadget.com or on Signal: karissabe.51 DMs open.

PostsRepliesMedia
Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Just because your AI agent looks kind of like a Muppet doesn't mean should blindly give it access to all your accounts. www.engadget.com/2275148/dont...
engadget.com
Don't let the adorable AI agents fool you - Engadget
Just because they look harmless doesn't mean you should be irresponsible with your data.
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
truth
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
this is so bleak
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
damn Bo I'm so sorry to hear that, you and the crew there did so much excellent work and it's unbelievably disappointing to see ZD do this to you all
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852dude @852dude.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Bro. People are cool as fuck.
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
now that is a new critique.. don't think I've ever "washed" a pair of glasses tbh ... they are water resistant enough to wipe with a damp cloth
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
I'm sure his regret was immediate
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Meta recently updated its smart glasses to deter people who break the LED. I was able to use cheap stickers and after-market covers to block the light without triggering Meta’s privacy features on two pairs of glasses. www.engadget.com/2227710/a-do...
engadget.com
A $2 sticker let me bypass the Meta Glasses' anti-creep feature - Engadget
Meta's smart glasses are supposed to alert bystanders when they're recording. Bypassing those safety features is trivially easy, unfortunately.
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Reposted by Karissa Bell
derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
watched the odyssey last night. film ruined by everyone speaking english instead of ancient greek.
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
I wrote about Meta's new anti-doomer ad campaign and how its first commercial, which is all about feeling good about AI, doesn't ... really have any AI in it www.engadget.com/2222159/meta...
engadget.com
Meta's pro-AI ad campaign is conspicuously light on AI - Engadget
The company wants people to be anti-doomer, but doesn't say why.
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
ICYMI last week, I wrote about the Meta Glasses backlash and how, for some people, it's changing how they use their glasses *even though no one I spoke with has had a negative interaction IRL related to their glasses* www.engadget.com/2212604/the-...
engadget.com
The Meta Glasses backlash is changing how (or if) people use them - Engadget
Backlash online is changing how (or if) people wear Meta's smart glasses.
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Devindra Hardawar @devindra.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Let’s goooo! Static owns a lot of sites you may read, like @engadget.com and @slashfilm.bsky.social. I’m looking forward to building this union with our hard-working writers and editors
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
NEW: I wrote about Threads’ bizarre Mr Beast spam problem (spoiler: it’s crypto scammers) www.engadget.com/2206409/thre...
engadget.com
Threads' ubiquitous Mr Beast spam is part of a massive crypto scam network - Engadget
Fake Mr Beast "promotions" are ubiquitous on Threads — they're also part of massive crypto scam network.
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
In my case, it was an editor (at a previous job) mixing up ET and PT so my story about a certain company *launching an iPad app* (lol) was posted early and that company acted like I had intentionally leaked their biggest trade secret
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
As someone who has had an editor's error lead to a broken embargo on an *extremely inconsequential* story ... I feel for Nina Totenberg. It is kind of amusing how NPR has to pretend like this is some random "misunderstanding" and not what it actually is, though.
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
I mean they had a “real” product in the sense there was a functioning headset ... I’m thinking more about how they spent so many years and a shit ton of $ building insane hype for a thing that was never launched
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
😵‍💫
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
I don't know how I missed that the founder of Midjourney was the Magic Leap guy... that kinda tells me all I need to know about their med spa/body scanner concept
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Hello from WWDC! I’m at Apple Park this morning liveblogging everything with @cherlynn.bsky.social
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
As a resident of Connie Chan's district in SF I can tell you... she's not it. She has repeatedly blocked housing this neighborhood desperately needs and fear-mongered about upzoning. She thinks a *third* ballot initiative over reopening the Great Highway is a good use of her time and resources.
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Meta has acknowledged the Instagram account takeovers in which hackers used the AI support chatbot to change the email associated with accounts and request a password reset with this one-sentence statement.
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Meta suddenly really likes Becerra for CA governor!
sacbee.com
Meta boosts Becerra as it begins mass layoffs, drawing fresh attacks from Steyer
The tech company gave nearly $1 million to a campaign committee that aims to elect Becerra ahead of the June 2 primary.
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
NEW: LinkedIn is trying to crack down on AI slop posts. The company is tweaking its recommendations to remove obvious AI slop, including recycled copypasta, unoriginal content and other low-quality posts. www.engadget.com/2174163/link...
engadget.com
LinkedIn doesn't want your AI slop anymore - Engadget
It isn't just lazy. It's also mind-numbingly boring.
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
This also isn't the first time the company has made an unblockable AI feature.. remember the AI Instagram profiles with weird personas? Meta blamed the inability to block those on a "bug" before it killed the project
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Earlier today, Meta announced it was testing a Meta AI chatbot for Threads that would work a lot like Grok on X.. what the company didn't say was that it had blocked the block button for the account and people are *pissed* www.engadget.com/2171113/thre...
engadget.com
Threads users are pissed they can't block Meta's new AI chatbot - Engadget
It's the top trending topic on the platform.
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
kinda weird framing from KTLA here but fwiw these are the same glasses Snap has been showing off for the last year and a half... they've said the new ones coming this year will look (hopefully a lot) better
ktla.com
Snapchat bets on smart glasses as the future
LOS ANGELES – Snap is getting ready to launch new smart glasses later this year, and the company is positioning them as a major step beyond the smartphone. I recently spoke with Snap co-found…
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Bluesky reporting some more issues today..
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Bluesky has been wonky all day bc of a DDoS that they are apparently still trying to get under control
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
NEW: The uncertain future facing Meta's Oversight Board isn't just about funding. The group sees a new opportunity to work w/ Gen AI companies and has even gotten some signs of interest from a few firms. But Meta needs to agree and so far, the company hasn't. www.engadget.com/social-media...
engadget.com
Meta isn't setting its Oversight Board free just yet
The Oversight Board has taken steps to formalize its long-contemplated desire to work with other companies, but Engadget has learned Meta has thus far declined to move forward with that process.
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
never understood the hype for Philz tbh
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
idk seems kinda telling that OpenAI is simultaneously saying they spent untold $$$ on TBPN to promote more "constructive" narratives about the AI industry but also they plan to let them keep editorial independence (which, lol, TBPN not exactly a hard hitting enterprise)
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
Some amazing details here, including SBF's parents filing a legal doc that was made to look like it was mailed by SBF from prison but was very obviously sent via FedEx (which isn't accessible in prison) in Palo Alto
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Garth Marenghi's Catbus @catbus.phd · 26/03/2026
when u have a good idea
a capybara sitting placidly in a tank of water with a red apple balanced atop its head
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
So uh Vanity Fair did a big cover story on AI and was supposed to get an interview with Dario but Anthropic blew him off so he instead.. made one up with Claude and discloses it after the made-up interview. Cool. www.vanityfair.com/news/story/d...
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
NEW: Meta is offering creators who have large followings on other platforms (but who don't regularly post on Facebook) up to $3k a month in bonuses if they start posting on Facebook, it's the company's latest plan to bring higher quality content and more well-known creators to the platform.
engadget.com
Meta's latest creator push comes with $3,000 bonuses for posting on Facebook
Meta is launching a new initiative aimed at popular creators who already have large followings on other platforms and offering bonuses for posting on Facebook.
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
welp the new, new Digg didn't last long. like 2 months after launching publicly they are laying off a bunch of people and bringing back Kevin Rose to... fight the bots?
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Meta is now facing a class action lawsuit over its smart glasses' privacy claims following reports that users' footage has been reviewed by human contractors in Kenya. www.engadget.com/social-media...
engadget.com
Meta hit with a class action lawsuit over smart glasses' privacy claims
Meta is facing a class action lawsuit for false advertising related to its AI glasses following reports about the company's use of human contractors to review footage captured from users' glasses.
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
been meaning to do this but today seemed like a good day for it
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
X recently released a new open-source version of its algorithm, but researchers say it's not exactly a win for transparency. Here's my deep dive about what we can actually learn about it from the code that was shared, and allll the parts that are still missing. www.engadget.com/social-media...
engadget.com
X's 'open source' algorithm isn't a win for transparency, researchers say
Researchers say that the recommendation algorithm published by X doesn't offer the kind of transparency that would actually be useful for anyone trying to understand how X works in 2026.
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
That was my first thought but the tweet stayed up for a long time and the account tagged wasn’t overtly crypto .. on second look now the tweet is gone so, yeah.
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
but was it a "scoop of ideas" or a "scoop of explanation" 🤔
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
NYT White House correspondent is on X... bragging about buying a plane?
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
X's head of product says the platform will soon feature "starterpacks" to make it easier for people to find other users to follow.. wonder where I've heard that before
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
dear god
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
hmm this YouTuber claims that an unannounced “official” Harry Potter VR game (from .. Skydance) may have been one of the casualties of yesterday’s metaverse layoffs at Meta
youtu.be
The Meta Situation Just Got Worse.
YouTube video by Gamertag VR
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 10/01/2026
Here it is, our robot recap of CES 206. We saw a bunch of cute robot “pets,” humanoids, laundry-doing robots and even a new AI robot friend from will.i.am (yes he’s at it again!) www.engadget.com/ai/the-robot...
engadget.com
The robots we saw at CES 2026: The lovable, the creepy and the utterly confusing
From sassy humanoids, to AI-powered pets and chore-handling assistants, we sought out as many cute, strange and capable robots as we could find during CES.
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
I don't really have an opinion on pretty pics vs blurry, raw "aesthetic" shots but when the head of Instagram says creators should post "unflattering" pics to prove they are real and not AI I feel like that says a whole lot about where AI is going
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
Instagram's top exec Adam Mosseri just published a little manifesto on the state of Instagram and AI going into 2026 and .. it's quite telling! He basically says Meta should give up trying to proactively label AI content and that camera companies should be in charge of verifying what's real.
engadget.com
Instagram chief: AI is so ubiquitous 'it will be more practical to fingerprint real media than fake media'
Adam Mosseri offered a notably candid assessment on how AI is upending Instagram.
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Karissa Bell @karissabe.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Meta describes this as a very "limited" test but there are some pretty big implications to making link-sharing a paid feature. Lots of people already assume Meta throttles posts w/ links but this suggests there may be a wider effort to reduce links across Facebook www.engadget.com/social-media...
engadget.com
A Facebook test makes link-sharing a paid feature for creators
Meta is testing out a new scheme that effectively puts link-sharing behind a paywall for creators on Facebook.
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